The Sled Ornaments are absolutely adorable. I finished 5 in total (you have already seen the penguin but he wanted to be in the photo). The penguin, red house and snowman are from the same leaflet, Snowy Sleds. The pink house is from Home for the Holidays and the mouse is from the Night Before Christmas. All of the patterns are by Lizzie Kate.
Another lesson learned is …. when you are mounting the cross stitch, after you have applied the stitchers tape, be sure cut the paper close to the edge rather than down the middle of the holes. It will give the ornament a little more of a polished finish and keep the tape from reflecting through the holes.
The 2023 List – with pictures!
Snippets Sled Ornaments by Lizzie Kate – wip
A Dutch Beauty Sampler by Permin – wip
Margaret Gibson Sampler by Scarlet Letter – wip
Houses of Hawk Run Hollow by Carriage House – new
Mill Hill variety – new
Rhode Island Reds from Cross Stitch and Country Crafts – new
Monday Meddler from Cross Stitch and Country Crafts – wip
Let Freedom Ring by Lila’s Studio – new
Country Living from Cross Stitch and Country Crafts – new
Colonial Windowbox from Hearts Content – wip
Birthday Wish by Ewe & Eye & Friends – wip
Teddy Bear Stocking by TS – wip
Elephant by TS – wip
Creation Series – Day One by Erhman – new
Poseidon’s Star by Genny Morrow– new
Beaded Scissors Tassels by Ruthmarie Hofman – new
No Sew Quilt Ornaments by Pattern Please – new
Rolling Ripple Baby Afghan by Mary Maxim – wip
R2D2 by Lego – wip
Dumbledore’s Office by Lego – new
Titanic by Lego – new
Additional ships for my fleet by Lego – new – pics to come.
There is not a doubt that the list will be changed up as the year progresses. There are Christmas Legos that are not on the list and cross stitch wips that are missing, oh well!
Historically, I actually complete some of the projects on my list. Year 2022 was pretty much a mess and the list was completely abandoned. I have not looked back at it and don’t plan to do so. On to 2023…….
The List – 2023
Cross Stitch Projects Snippets Sled Ornaments by Lizzie Kate – wip A Dutch Beauty Sampler by Permin – wip Margaret Gibson Sampler by Scarlet Letter – wip Houses of Hawk Run Hollow by Carriage House – new Mill Hill variety – new Let Freedom Ring by Lilas Studio – new
Needlepoint Projects Teddy Bear Stocking by TS – wip Elephant by TS – wip Creation Series – Day One by Erhman – new Poseidon’s Star by Genny Morrow – new
Other Scissor Tassels by Ruthmarie Hofman – new No Sew Quilt Ornaments by Pattern Please – new Rolling Ripple Baby Afghan by Mary Maxim – wip & new R2D2 by Lego – wip Additional ships for my fleet by Lego – new Dumbledore’s Office by Lego – new Titanic by Lego – new
At the moment, I am working on another sled ornament and hope to get at least 2 done before Christmas. I also found some cute beaded icicle ornament kits that I will open this week.
I will be starting my ebay auctions again this week, I still have a lot of Bucilla kits, Dimensions needlepoint kits are almost gone, plastic canvas is almost gone, there are about a dozen sequin and bead kits to be listed, and I will also be adding DMC floss lots weekly. You can find me under the user id: jbf.
Hope the Holiday Season is wonderful!
Stay safe, wear a mask and make sure your vaccines are up to date!
This is a Lizzie Kate Snippet design called Snowy Sleds (#S129). The chart calls for Weeks Dye Works threads but I used DMC floss. I stitched using 3 strands on 14 count brown perforated paper (as stated in the instructions).
The sled is from Foxwood Crossings and I bought a dozen of them, good thing I like the finished ornament!
The designer gives 2 options for finishing the sleds. I chose option one, using Stitchery Tape. I cut the ornament out before applying the tape and that was a bad move. The instructions specifically say to attach the tape before cutting out the ornament that probably makes it much easier. I will definitely do that for the next finish.
The second option is to use white glue but I would think that might be a little more of a challenge to make sure that the glue doesn’t leak to the front.
My other project this week has been sorting the piles of floss that I have accumulated over the years – I have been calling it The Floss Project. This was a result of a reality check about full coverage cross stitch pieces. I have completed a few but they are all smaller pieces or minis. (Technically, I think the sleds are full coverage.)
Of all of the full coverage large pieces I have had kitted up, only 4 made the final cut. The Map of Middle Earth (started), Master / Yoda (started) and Dark Force / Darth Vader (not started) – all from Tilton. The fourth is Paul Revere’s Ride (not started) from Scarlet Quince. I have two Heaven and Earth projects in progress that are both storykeeps, Maleficent and Trick or Treat.
I am sorting all the floss and I will list it on auction on ebay in bags of maybe 40 for $5 or 75 for $10. It will depend on the cost to mail and what stitchers are willing to bid.
I still have many Bucilla kits to list and am almost done listing Dimensions Needlepoint kits and plastic canvas kits! I’m glad to have some empty storage boxes.
I seem to have a thing about “cutting” stitching for projects. In the past I totally quit doing hardanger because of my fear of cutting and this has continued with ornament finishing. They could be on fabric or on paper but I just can’t seem to cut them. So…. I have ordered new scissors for cutting the paper projects and will take the plunge in a day or so.
Building with Lego was a great alternative to getting my ornaments done.
This is my finish of Hogsmead Village and it is cuter in person than you can imagine! It was a very relaxing build, probably since it is designed for 8+ years of age. I do think the stickers could be a bit of a challenge for that age. Fun, cute and I really wanted a McGonagall minifig!
The resource center purge continues and so I still spend a lot of time with ebay. The Dimensions needlepoint kits and plastic canvas kits are almost gone. I will be listing Bucilla felt kits for another few months and this week I started listing bead and sequin kits.
I started with the adorable penguin, it is stitched on Mill Hill Antique brown perforated paper using DMC rather than the overdyed floss. Personally, I think it looks fabulous. I bought the sleds and just need to cut and mount (famous last words) for a great finish.
The snowman in next and if I can stay on task I will have at least one totally complete ornament to show in my next post.
Staying on task is such a challenge! I continue to list kits on ebay and that takes a lot more time than you think. At the moment the listings are felt kits and plastic canvas kits from Bucilla, Herrschners and Mary Maxim as well as some “vintage” needlepoint kits from Dimensions. Once those are gone I expect to list quilt kits and bead & sequin ornaments, take a look! My ebay id is jbf.
As I find items that I am not able to do or will never have time for, I am also finding projects that were forgotten, some started and some not. This week, one of the items that is calling to me is a sampler called Dutch Beauty by Permin. I started it 23 years ago, I know the time because I printed a thread conversion that has the date on the footer.
This is a picture of the Dutch Beauty sampler and, for the record, it is not at all what I would normally stitch since there isn’t a house in sight. It is gigantic at 630 by 390 stitches. I will post my own pics next time, this came from 123stitch.
Stay safe, get your immunizations and wear a mask!
This is a giant reminder to self ….. a small hammer is your friend, switch mill hill kits to fabric, and do not make beaded bells ever again.
This is my latest Lego finish, Diagon Alley. Using a small hammer to help with building is fabulous, especially with larger pieces.
Next is another Mill Hill finish, this is Taboo Kitty. I followed all the stated instructions but got frustrated with how tight it got on the back. Using 3 strands meant no loop start. I might try two strands on the paper in future but I will probably abandon the paper and stitch on fabric. I like the ability to “finish” the Mill Hill kits just by backing with felt and cutting them out. Now I need to find a stabilizer (maybe clear glue??) to put on the back of fabric and cut just like the paper.
Last finish is a Beaded Bell. This is from an old Mary Maxim kit. It think it came out alright, I’m sure that after you make a couple it will finish a bit more even. This is definitely not a craft for me, it too hard on my shoulders trying to keep the beads tight.
It is so great to have a finish! This is Carmel Apple, one of the Mill Hill kits that combines cross stitch with beading and the results are wonderful. Don’t you just love the tassels? It has a finished size of 1.75 inches by 3 inches.
For the finishing I will probably cut it out and back it with felt and add a hanger. But I’m still not sure so on to the next Mill Hill.
This is Taboo Kitty, the finished size will be 1.75 inches by 3.23 inches.
If you are new to Mill Hill kits, go check out the hundreds of pieces that are available. They make them for every day and every holiday.
One of the best (and inexpensive) stitching accessories you will want is a “Tacky Bill” or “Tacky BOB”. I bought one years ago and it is called a Tacky BOB, the BOB stands for Box fOr Beads. It is basically a small cd holder with some type of acid free adhesive tape on the insides of the open case. You pour your beads on and are able to easily lift them off with your needle to stitch. When you drop the case, and you know it will happen, the beads won’t scatter.
I have been spending my time trying to get some of my goodies listed on ebay. At the moment, I am trying to find new homes for a big chuck of my Bucilla kits. If you ebay, you can see my listings using my id, jbf (you should be able to click on the id to get there).
If you pinterest, I have a section in my Bucilla pinterest called “felt to sell”. My pinterest id is jlbfjlbf (you should be able to click on the id to get there). On my pinterest you will find over 100 kits that I would like to find new homes.
It has been quite a while since I sold on ebay so I started with “buy it now” listings and am now trying auction style. I expect that stockings and ornaments will start at $10.
I also listed a few plastic canvas and needlepoint kits. Too many kits and too little time!!
This is a big project, 189 by 339 stitches! I have not washed or pressed it yet since it is likely that I will find something that needs to be adjusted.
I started on September 18, 2021 and finished on September 4, 2022. It is stitched one over one on 40 count linen called Vintage Cream from Dixie Samplar using DMC. For those that count stitches, this is 31,136 stitches (more or less). Each cross stitch is counted as one, each backstitch is 1/2 stitch and each french knot is one stitch.
There are a handful of changes that I made starting with the border around the top and bottom banners, for those I used 336 for the cross and 823 for the back stitch. The signature blocks were also changed but I forgot to write down what I used.
For the top banner I changed the hearts to stars.
Delaware is the only place that I used two strands for the backstitch. The instructions called for two colors in the needle and I did that, all other backstitch was with one strand.
The color for all signs including “tomato” in New Jersey were changed to the darkest shade in the same color family. I tried it as charted and the words disappeared, then I tried two strands and it looked too bulky and out of place, then I tried the darker colors and am happy the the result.
A kind member of the SAL group told me that her chart had a french knot at the top of the tea kettle for Nevada (it was missing on my chart). Thank you Dee, I like the way it looks! On North Dakota, the deer was charted with 3 legs and I originally stitched it like that but just had to add the missing leg.
We used to own a small John Deer ride on mower and so I had to change the tractor in Oklahoma to green and yellow.
For Utah, I changed the backstitch train wheels to round them out and on Virginia I stopped the fence on the right at the brickwork. The color for the heart in Wisconsin was changed to look a bit more mac-n-cheese but I think it really looks more like butter, I like it.
It’s funny, as I wrote my last blog post a month ago, I had a niggling feeling that things would not go as I hoped. Maybe I jinxed myself but I have done no stitching, crafting or building.
My shoulders decided to be more than a bit uncooperative and uncomfortable. Life is a mystery and I am usually mystified as to what I do to make my shoulders mad but I think I am on the mend and am hopeful.
Since I’m not doing needlearts and such, I have been reading Agatha Christie novels and have yet to decide on a favorite between Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple. I haven’t read any of the other of her series and that makes me happy to know that my Agatha Christie journey will continue for some time!
needlearts ... and beyond 